Press Releases

Awards of 2017 Global Road Safety Film Festival raise awareness about the fatal consequences of drink driving and distracted driving

Published: 21 February 2017

UNECE and Life announced today the winners of the 2017 Global Road Safety Film Festival. Among the top three winners were a film about drink driving, and two films about distracted driving.

The winner of the Gran Prix Prize, “Reflections from Inside Dawn” produced by NGO “We save lives” from the United States, addresses drink driving. The film shows an actual prison inmate who was convicted of drunk driving after killing a police officer, literally reaching out to club-goers via a video link and encouraging them to take responsibility for their behaviour before getting behind the wheel.

The two runners up films Distracted driving kills, Don't use your phone, produced by the Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency (3rd prize) and Distracted Driving, produced by the Road Traffic Safety Research Center of Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of , China (2nd prize), powerfully displayed the consequences of paying more attention to a smart phone then the road. The increased use of smartphones has led to far more distracted driving incidents. In 2014, in the US alone 3,179 people were killed, and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers. One of the best tools for ending distracted driving is through education and films like the two runners up provide an emotional and vivid view of the consequences.

The other awards included:

-Award for the festival’s best Spanish speaking film – Sponsored by the Directorate-General of Traffic, Ministry of Interior, Spain: Hay que ir con ojo, You have to go with your eyes wide open, produced by the Royal Automobile Club of Spain (RACE)

-Award for the festival’s best Francophone film – Sponsored by the Alliance Francophone pour la Sécurité Routière: 4,000, by the National Committee for the Prevention of Road Traffic Accidents (CNPAC) of Morocco

-Award for the festival’s best film on safe riding of a motorcycle sponsored by the International Motorcycle Manufactures Association (IMMA): Select the suitable right helmet, produced by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety

-Award for the festival’s best film on safe and smart vehicle sponsored by Global NCAP: A new chapter for IIHS vehicle research, produced by the US Insurance Institute for Highway Research

-Award for the festival’s best film on preventing drink driving – sponsored by International Alliance for Responsible Drinking and Good Angel: Sprout under bottles, produced by VARD in Vietnam

-Award for the festival’s best film on road safety innovation – sponsored by Develter Innovation: Jawsy produced by the Road Safety NGO from the Russian Federation

-Award for the festival’s best film on work related road safety – sponsored by Global SafeDrive Alliance: Distracting driving Eicher story, produced by Eicher India

-Award for the festival’s best European Union film – delivered by her Excellency, Madam Violetta Bulc, European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport: Safe with Andrew on the way to school produced by the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, University of Zagreb Croatia

The film festival is the product of the UNECE teaming with LIFE, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt and Hollywood talent including actress Michelle Yeoh and filmmaker Luc Besson.

Every year 1.25 million people are killed and around 50 million injured in road traffic crashes, making it one of the most pressing health emergencies of our time. Every day 500 children lose their lives because of road crashes. It is the leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 29, and the eighth leading cause of death globally. The film festival, which is being held in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC), aims to raise awareness as well as providing tools for education about road safety issues.

The festival began with a grand opening ceremony, featuring an opening address by Mr. Jean Todt. “I and many others are passionate about protecting lives on our roads, but we need that passion to transform into political will,” said Mr. Jean Todt at the opening. “This is where films like the ones showcased in this festival are important. They become critical tools in helping us create emotion and to move people from being our audience to being a fellow advocate.”

“We at Life international have produced various road safety film festivals for more than ten years now,” said Mr. Robert Trotten, President of LIFE. “The reason is simple. We believe in films as a tool for advocating and teaching road safety, and we want to provide a platform which encourages filmmakers to produce great work on this subject.”

The festival collected 232 films from countries across the globe including countries such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, The Dominican Republic, Malaysia, China and Tunisia. While all films were required to have English subtitles many are in the language of the country of origin. This makes them perfect teaching and awareness raising tools for road safety campaigns.